1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a hand grenade with an airburst.
2. Description of the Related Art
Existing constructions of fragmentation hand grenades all have one basic shortcoming; the active fragments are very unlikely to find the target owing to the fact that detonation takes place with the hand grenade lying on the ground, whereby the effect does not occur.
Fragmentation hand grenades have a casing which strives to spread fragments uniformly in all directions, see for instance U.S. Pat. No. 4,781,117 A. This means that the major part of the fragments is directed into the ground or into the air when detonating. Only the few fragments that start from a horizontal ring round a lying hand grenade constitute a potential danger to a lying target. An irregularity or depression in the ground which is as high as the height of a lying hand grenade constitutes a direct obstacle to a hit. A minimum irregularity in the ground affords the target natural protection also at a distance of less than 1 m. It is also highly probable that such obstacles exist in each throw.
A solution to this problem is demonstrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,866,841 A where a hand grenade has a plurality of legs which are unfolded and raise the hand grenade to a vertical position after it has come to rest on the ground. This means that no fragments will be directed into the ground where their effect is wasted. However, there remains the problem with irregularities that still constitute an obstacle to a hit. Besides, in combat using hand grenades a target will only by mistake be located in a position other than lying and thus is not exposed to the fragments. This means that the excellent penetration values of a modern hand grenade do not matter since the fragments will not reach the target.